0079 CWS October 2019 Final

JUSTIFICATION FOR NONMATERIAL/NONSUBSTANTIVE CHANGE

United States Patent and Trademark Office

International Work Sharing Program

OMB CONTROL NUMBER 0651-0079

October 2019

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is submitting this request to update information collection 0651-0079 International Work Sharing Program. The USPTO is proposing, under the Expanded Collaborative Search Pilot (CSP) initiative, to return to a single survey for both the Japan Patent Office (JPO) and Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) instead of two surveys, one for each entity.

Background

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) established a Work Sharing Program in conjunction with the Japan Patent Office (JPO) and the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) to study how the exchange of search results between offices for corresponding counterpart applications improves patent quality and facilitates the examination of patent applications in both offices. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) established a Work Sharing Program called the Collaborative Search Pilot (CSP). Due to the success of the first iteration, the USPTO is implementing a follow-on called Expanded CSP. Like in the first iteration, the USPTO will be collaborating with the Japan Patent Office (JPO) and the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) to study how the exchange of search results between offices for corresponding counterpart applications improves patent quality and facilitates the examination of patent applications in both offices. Through the CSP, each office concurrently conducts searches on corresponding counterpart applications. Each office’s search results are exchanged; providing examiners with a comprehensive set of art before them upon commencement of examination.

Summary of Changes

The USPTO is proposing to use a single survey for JPO and KIPO, rather than having unique instruments for both offices. There is no change in the estimated number of survey respondents; still estimated at 150 annually. The modified survey with a new question set is expected to take respondents some additional time. USPTO estimates that the new survey will take 8 minutes to complete; 5 minutes is the time needed for the existing survey.

Changes in Burden

The addition of the form will result in the following burden changes for this information collection:

Burden Type	Currently approved	Proposed change	New estimates
Responses	300	0	300
Hours	462	8	470
Annual (non-hour) costs	$0	$0	$0

The 0651-0079 revised total burden for this collection is as follows:

• 300 responses

• 470 burden hours

• $0.00 in non-hourly cost burden